​BRUSSELS, 8 February 2017 – WSBI Asian members gathered on the occasion of the Innovation Conference to refine the working programme of the two Working Groups that were set up in April 2016 in Tokyo.

The Working Group (WG) on Remittance is led by Bank Simpanan Nasional Malaysia (BSN) and the tie-up with WSBI members in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam is under the progress. As regards to Working Group on Rural Financial Inclusion, WSBI highlighted its analysis on members' state of play in rural financial inclusion. They concluded that a big gap remains in the region when it comes to borrowing from a formal financial institution, although the rate of access to an account varies from country to country.

The Working Group on Rural Financial Inclusion will continue sharing best practice, bringing new innovative solutions and ideas that could potentially solve members' challenges in rural financial inclusion. 'Benchmark' members in rural financial inclusion such as BSN and State Bank of India have also showed their willingness to share their knowledge and provide advice to other members.